Page images
PDF
EPUB

are every

man's money, and he that buyeth them is not coy of the contents, be they never so scandalous of all humours the most harsh and odious. Take him from this (which you can hardly do till he hath told all) and then he falleth upon his ribaldry; without these crutches his discourse would never be able to keep pace with his company. Thus shall you have them relate the stories of their own uncleanness, with a face as confident as if they had had no accident to please their hearers more commendable. Thus will they reckon up the several profanations of pleasure, by which they have dismanned themselves; sometimes not sparing to descend unto particulars. A valiant captain never gloried more in the number of the cities he had taken, than they do of the several women they have prostituted.

Egregiam vero laudem, et spolia ampla!

Foolish and most perishing wretches, by whom each several incontinency is twice committed, first in the act, and secondly in the boast.

[blocks in formation]

BOYLE.

he

ROBERT BOYLE, the seventh son and fourteenth child of Richard earl of Cork, was born at Lismore in the county of Cork, and province of Munster in Ireland, 1626-7. He was taught Latin by one of the earl's chaplains; and French by a Frenchman resident in the house. When eight years of age, entered at Eton-school, under Mr. Harrison, then master of that seminary; where having remained about four years, he was sent, in 1638, with his brother Francis, lately married, on his travels to the continent, under the superintendance of Mr. Marcombes. They landed at Dieppe in Normandy, and proceeded thence to Rouen, Paris, Lyons, and finally to Geneva, where, his governor having a family, he and

his brother remained to pursue their studies. Here Boyle resumed the mathematics, in which he had been initiated at Eton.

An anecdote, which explains the cause of his first attention to mathematical subjects, ought not to be passed over in silence; as it indicates not merely the early developement of his reasoning powers, but exhibits in a striking manner, a general and important fact in education. Boyle, when at school, and before he was ten years of age, was so seriously attacked with an ague, that it was thought necessary to suspend his studies; or, at least, to allow him. to please his own fancy in the choice of books. He chose Romances, which produced such dissipation of thought and unsettledness of mind, that even on the recovery of his health, he found it difficult to fix his attention to any one subject. To cure this mental disease, he resorted to an expedient, which will excite astonishment, if we consider his tender years. He applied forcibly to the extraction of the square and cube roots, and the solution of algebraical equations. This had the desired effect. It moreover gave a permanent direction to his talents, and was the embryo of that great birth of philosophical discoveries he

subsequently brought forth, and by which his name has become immortal.

He quitted Geneva in 1641, and passing through Switzerland and the country of the Grisons, entered Lombardy; and pursuing his rout through Bergamo, Brescia, and Verona, arrived at Venice, where having staid a short time, he returned to the continent and spent the winter at Florence. During his stay in this city, the famous Galileo died at a village in the vicinity. He thence visited Rome, Leghorn, and Genoa; and in 1644, he with his brother returned to England.

Boyle was one of the first members of that society styled by him the invisible, by themselves, the philosophical college, who, after the restoration, were incorporated under the title of the Royal Society. In 1654, he took up his residence at Oxford, on account of the various adaptations of the place to retirement, study, and philosophical intercourse. It occasioned also the removal of the invisible college, from London to that university. During his residence here, he invented the air-pump. He finally settled, however, in London, where he died in 1691.

The writings of Boyle are very voluminous;

the greater part on subjects of mechanical philosophy; and not a few on other branches of knowledge. The following will be found a tolerably correct list, exclusive of his numerous papers in the Phil. Trans. His first work of any importance was that subsequent to his discovery of the air pump, entitled,

1. New Experiments touching the Spring of the Air. Published shortly after the restoration, in 1660.

2. Physiological Essays, and other Tracts, 1661.

3. The Sceptical Chemist, 1661.

4. Considerations on the Usefulness of Experimental Natural Philosophy, 1663.

5. Experiments and Considerations upon Colours; to which was added, a Letter, containing, Observations upon a Diamond that shines in the dark.

6. Considerations on the Style of the Holy Scriptures.

7. Occasional Reflections on several Subjects; to which is prefixed, a Discourse concerning the Nature and Use of such kind of Writings, 1665.

8. Experiments and Observations relative

« PreviousContinue »